Thursday, October 16, 2008

Finally, the rest of the Taxi song

I went on a field trip with the Kindergarten class and very sneakily asked them to teach me the taxi song. Not only did it help pass the time on the walk back to school, but now I'm fully informed and can share. And then I can let it go. Though there's still that unaccounted-for non-rhyme, for which I'll give a suggestion. I bet you can't wait.spoken:Oh, no, I think I lost my [mode of transportation which a child provides, such as "pogo stick"]And usually that's bad.Good thing I'm a city kid,and I can hail a cab.sung:"Taxi! Taxi!" Riding in the back.*Roll the window up. Roll the window down.Put the money in the slot. "See you later! Thanks a lot!"Sure beats walking crosstown.***In order to make it complete, and to match the ensuing slot/lot rhyme, I think it might at one time have been "back seat" for a Taxi/back seat rhyme. Earth-shaking, I know.**Apart from the "good thing I'm a city kid," this "crosstown" is my favorite part of the song. It could be a contracted "across town," but since our blocks here are shaped like brand new, unsharpened pencils, the crosstown ones are the ones you dread walking, since that is not the eraser end. (The eraser end - the uptown/downtown direction - has the downside of congestion at the corners, which residents - oh, my, I get to say "we" - which we compensate for by jaywalking.)

It's also cute when songs include archaisms that kids can't know. One is the slot for money. (Thank you, whichever New York mayor wants to take credit for the improved safety of cabbies.) The other is the hand movement that accompanies the rolling of the windows. When we were in Germany, the kids were fascinated that they could roll the windows in my sister's car manually. This was their first exposure to such windows. I don't think the rest of Coco's class has been in my sister's car.Okay. The song is now officially out of my head.

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About Me

Here I am, a stay-at-home dad in Brooklyn. If you're wondering how to pronounce "Goedi," it's pronounced as written. Or, imagine Barbara Walters or Terry Jones (same person, right?) saying "gurdy." And then pronounce it as written anyway.
The other main players here are Madge ('99) and Coco ('03). (Different apostrophes, obviously.)